That Damn Quill
by 34knockonthedoor
Summary: James has had enough and Lily knows how to make him feel better


Really, it all boiled down to that damn quill.

James Potter was not having the easiest of weeks, what with horrible quidditch practices where a majority of his team seemed to have never even flown a broomstick before, classes that were so difficult he was actually having to pay attention in order to understand the complexity of them, a full moon approaching meaning he had to watch one of his best friends suffer and grow weaker, outward hostilities from the Slytherins (or pre-death eaters as Sirius called them), extra patrols as the new Ravenclaw prefect fell "sick" on short notice (he promised it had NOTHING to do with his new Hufflepuff girlfriend), and absolutely no free time to even begin to try to relax with his best mates or girlfriend.

All in all, James Potter was feeling thoroughly down and out.

and so it was with too many jumbled thoughts and exhausting realities in his head that he tried to scrawl out the last of his transfiguration essay so he might FINALLY collapse into bed and hopefully cuddle with lily. As a foreseeable end to this horrendous week was almost upon him with the last paragraph, the quill ripped the parchment with a nice long tear down the length of the parchment.

James blinked stupidly for a few seconds at the paper with a twitching eye. A few of the surrounding second years scooted away concernedly as he simply stood up, walked to the fire, and tossed the paper and quill in. He stood there for quite some time with a manic look in his eye and internal screaming in his head when he felt a small and soft hand on his shoulder. He looked round to see Lily staring up bemusedly.

"Is there a reason that you look like you're about to put a hit out on anyone who has ever used a quill and commented on its excellence? I saw your little temper tantrum there. I'm not sure throwing away an entire essay that could have been fixed with a bit of spello-tape was the answer but I appreciate the theatrics"

James just answered with a groan and lily chuckled lightly as she dragged him towards the portrait hole.

"Come on, before the second years can't sleep in fear of a maniac seventh year who has lost it"

Lily dragged him down the stairs, through the corridors, until they were down in the dungeons. They didn't stop until they were in the deepest parts of the dungeons where no classes were held, as it was too dark and drafty for them.

"What on earth are we doing here?" James finally voiced. He was pleased to note that despite the inner commotion in his head, he sounded vaguely put together (or so he hoped).

"I'm brought you here to hopefully calm you down. I came down here a lot in fifth and sixth year when I needed to relieve some tension. And before you say it, no not that kind of tension relief you 12 year old"

James grinned at how well she knew him (she beat him to the punch line too often but he didn't mind it as it just furthered his belief of how perfect they were for each other)

He watched as she conjured up a pile of plates, cups, saucers, glasses, and all sorts and looked at her quizzically when she glanced at him expectantly.

"so in order to relax….. we host a 12 course dinner party? You're right I feel better already" James remarked as Lily didn't seem willing to offer any definitive answer as to why they seemed to have the entirety of the Hogwarts dinner service in the dungeon with them.

Lily shot him an unimpressed look "yes, that's exactly it. Brilliantly deduced. No wonder you're top of the class" she drawled with sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

"Oi, you cheeky creature, just tell me what we are doing" he responded squeezing her sides.

"this is what we do you ….." Lily mumbled under her breath a number of less than flattering names but with a theme of impacence and childishness.

Before James could comment on the rather rude names he was being called, Lily grabbed a plate and threw it as hard as she could against the wall. It crashed against the wall, shattering into a million different pieces with a cacophony of sound. She whirled around with such a big grin on her face that James was momentarily stunned by her before coming back to himself.

Seeing as it looked as though Lily thought this explanation enough, James took it upon himself to articulate his concerns "….What?" He asked stupidly.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"stress has obviously not only driven you mad, but made you thick as well. We are breaking these plates and stuff the muggle way because it feels _so good_ todo so."

"….but this seems risky Lils. isn't it a bit loud? aren't we nicking these from the kitchen? won't they notice them missing?"

Lily looked torn between exasperation and amusement as she explained it slowly as though speaking to a small child.

"We will repair them afterwards as I was under the impression that we are capable of doing magic, and that is why we are doing it down here, people don't ever come down this far. Or are you too chicken? who knew being made head boy had made you go soft".

Lily laughed with delight at the look of indignation across his face as she insulted his nerve laughed even harder as he grabbed a mug and chucked it across the room in response to her goading.

Before long they were clutching their sides with laughter at the ridiculous things they were saying before each plate was thrown

("take that Flitwick and your stupid cleaning charm! Ill show you proper wrist action!" "this is for that damn quill that ruined my day" "if one more 5th year tried to imply O. are harder than N.E.W.T.s…." )

After a while there were no more new plates to throw as the entire dungeon room was covered in shards of glass and ceramic. Finally calming down, they swept their wands over the mess and the piles of dinnerware flew nearly back into place.

James tuned to Lily to see a triumphant smile on her face. Overcome by love and adoration for the amazing girl in from of him, he swept her up into his arms and gave her a long, hard, and passionate kiss. After a few long and wonderful moments they pulled away and rested their foreheads together.

"Thank you Lily. Thank you for being wonderful, amazing, silly, and downright strange enough to know how to make your neurotic boyfriend marginally less homicidal."

Lily gave him a small peck on the lips.

"Anytime love. Now come on, lets go rewrite that essay of yours and if we finish in time, we can have a quick shag, then shower and bed."

James grinned down at Lily in delight and said "Merlin I love you. You know exactly the way to my heart. And if we don't finish in time…..?"

She gave him a roguish grin as she replied, "then we will have to shag while showering".

Lily laughed as he practically dragged her back to the common room and got to working on that essay.


End file.
